AfrikaBurn X: Pictures from the Tankwa desert fest

Once a year the Tankwa desert is transformed into a kaleidoscopic playground with larger than life installation artworks and eccentric costumes that can only be carried off at AfrikaBurn. This year the festival celebrated its 10th birthday, and for photographer and filmmaker Fausto Becatti, it was his best Burn yet. Camera in hand, he snapped the magic that ensued – relive his experience in words and images below.

This being my third AfrikaBurn, my approach to this series of photos was from a slightly different perspective than I’ve done before. There is an enormous scope for photography at AfrikaBurn; the perennial moments of elation and love, physical beauty, mind-blowing sunsets and sunrises, the overwhelming collective power of the burns – the list goes on indefinitely. My collection of images is more about trying to portray the pleasant hysteria of it all; a wave in constant motion. Every kind of experience is happening in every moment of the day and over the eight days I spent there, I found it difficult to sit down and reflect as I just rolled on from one experience to the next, engrossed by the interactions. I found myself bombarded with emotions and ever changing paths, the only truly salient and consistent take-away being the pure absurdity of it all. Suffice to say I found it overwhelming, and that’s what I’ve tried to capture in this series.